Rättesnöre eller sammelsurium? : En kvalitativ fallstudie vid Landstinget i Värmland om mellanchefers roll i att förankra den övergripande verksamhetsplanen

Sammanfattning: Abstract It is valuable in large organization with multiple hierarchical levels that the general goals are communicated at all levels of the organization. Organizations usually have an overall business plan, which should serve as a guide and indicate the organization’s direction. Middle managers have an important part in communicating the overall business plan since they are a link between upper management and employees.   The purpose of this study was to examine how middle managers, in their role as a link between upper management and employees, communicate the overall business plan. The study was conducted at the County council in Värmland, which represents a large hierarchical organization. The overall business plan was landstingplanen. The theoretical framework used was primarily theories and previous research in organizational communication, communicative leadership and communication and structure. Eight middle managers were selected through a variety selection. The eight respondents were interviewed to examine in what way they are communicating and establishing the County council's overall business plan.   The results showed that the overall business plan is established and communicated in the different levels of the organization since it is broken down in two steps. The overall business plan functions as a support and gives guidance in how to accomplish the goals that are conveyed. The balanced scorecard that is a part of the overall business plan fills an important role in what middle management choose to priorities and communicate to their employees. However, the results indicated that the general formulation in the overall business plan resulted in a relatively free interpretation among the middle managers. Furthermore, the results showed that the attitudes against the County council’s vision among the respondents were fairly negative. The results also indicated that the middle managers are operating from a communicative leadership in communicating the overall business plan to their employees, but for this to be realized there must be a communicative empowerment.  The results also showed that discrepancy between the upper management and the employees was perceived as large, which may obstruct the middle managers to establish the overall business plan.